Where is Waldo Louisiana?

The state of the geographic knowledge of our nation's citizens is worse than bad. It's awful.

I know, not everyone is geographically inclined. I was a geography nerd in junior high. To prove it, I made state in National Geographic's annual geography bee three straight years, placing 4th in 7th grade and runner-up in 8th grade. In other words, just as a math major may think it's crazy that I don't understand calculus, I'm often a bit biased in thinking that people should know certain geographic facts.

Still, shouldn't everyone at least be able to point out our country's states on a map?

Poll: 1/3 of Youths Can't Find La. on Map

WASHINGTON - Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of the damage from Hurricane Katrina, nearly one-third of young Americans recently polled couldn't locate Louisiana on a map and nearly half were unable to identify Mississippi.

Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 fared even worse with foreign locations: six in 10 couldn't find Iraq according to a Roper poll conducted for National Geographic.

"Geographic illiteracy impacts our economic well-being, our relationships with other nations and the environment, and isolates us from the world," National Geographic president John Fahey said in announcing a program to help remedy the problem. It's hoping to enlist businesses, nonprofit groups and educators in a bid to improve geographic literacy.

Planned is a five-year, multimedia campaign called My Wonderful World that will target children 8 to 17. The goal is to motivate parents and educators to expand geographic offerings in school, at home and in their communities.

They will have their task cut out for them, judging by the results of the survey of 510 people interviewed in December and January.

Among the findings:

• While the outsourcing of jobs to India has been a major U.S. business story, 47 percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.

• While Israeli-Palestinian strife has been in the news for the entire lives of the respondents, 75 percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the Middle East.
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Joining in the effort to improve geographic knowledge will be the 4-H, American Federation of Teachers, Asia Society, Association of American Geographers, National Basketball Association, National Council of La Raza, National PTA, Smithsonian Institution and others.

"Geography exposes children and adults to diverse cultures, different ideas and the exchange of knowledge from around the world," said Anna Marie Weselak, president of the National PTA. "This campaign will help make sure our children get their geography — so they can become familiar with other cultures during their school years and move comfortably and confidently in a global economy as adults."

I couldn't agree more with this campaign. I learned more in geography than I did in any other subject, because geography transcends so many other subjects.

It's crazy...47% can't even find a subcontinent? What about finding North America? Or their own state?